


After 03x05 (The Double Blind Job)

by PseudoLeigha



Series: (More) 2AM Conversations [35]
Category: Leverage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-25
Updated: 2016-08-25
Packaged: 2018-08-11 00:23:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7867744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PseudoLeigha/pseuds/PseudoLeigha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sophie and Parker discuss relationships, attraction, and /pretzels/. </p>
<p>Parker’s POV</p>
<p>*warning: past non-con/rape mentioned in passing* (erm... the warning literally takes up as much word-time as it does in-fic.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	After 03x05 (The Double Blind Job)

“Sophie! Sophie! Wake up!”

Sophie was not like Eliot, or Parker herself, jolting to consciousness in an instant.

“Parker?” she mumbled, rolling over to look at the clock, and groaning.

What didn’t people get about thieves being nocturnal?

“I did what you said, but I messed it up.”

She had. It was hours ago, now, but she had only just calmed down enough to come ask for help.

“What?”

“You told me I had to tell Hardison how I feel, but I’m not used to _feeling_ things, let alone talking about them, and I… I messed it up.”

“What?” Sophie repeated.

“I got halfway through it and then… I couldn’t do it. I said I’ve been having weird feelings for pretzels. _Pretzels_ , Sophie! Wake up, this is important! I don’t know what to do!”

“Pretzels?”

“They were right there! I froze! It was like when I’m trying to grift and don’t know what to say! He was looking at me with… with _eyes_ , and –”

“Parker, calm down,” Sophie said, propping herself up against her headboard. Good. She was finally awake. “What did Hardison say after you told him you were having feelings for… pretzels?”

“He said they would be right there when I wanted some.”

“Um… okay.”

“They were. Right there. Like, literally. A basket of them. Pretzels.”

“Parker…”

“Sophie, what do I _do_?”

The grifter groaned again. “First you’re going to take a deep breath and count to ten, _silently_. And then I think we need to have a talk.”

Parker breathed in, counted to ten, and then said, “What about? And why did I have to count to ten?”

“I was hoping it would help you calm down.”

“Why would – never mind. What do we need to talk about?”

“We need to talk about exactly what you’re feeling, so we can figure out what you want, and then what you need to do,” the older woman said soothingly. This was much more calming than counting to ten. A plan. Parker could work with a plan.

“You said I was jealous,” she volunteered.

“You were acting jealous, yes,” Sophie agreed. “That feeling where you don’t want him to spend time with other people, because that means he’s not spending it with you? That’s jealousy. Do you feel anything else about him?”

“Yes.”

Sophie sighed. “What else do you feel about Hardison, Parker?”

This was a much harder question. “I… I like being around him?”

“What do you like about being around him?”

She hesitated, unable to articulate it. It was something about the way that he looked at her, like he wanted her there, no matter what. Like she made him happy, just by being there. That made her happy. But she didn’t know how to say it.

“Let’s start with something easier,” Sophie suggested. “Do you like being around the rest of the team? Me? Eliot? Nate?”

Parker nodded.

“Why do you like being around me?”

“You teach me how to understand people,” she said quickly.

“And Eliot?”

“He understands _me_. And he cooks.”

“And Nate?”

“Nate plans jobs. He gives me things to _do_.”

“Do you like being around Hardison for the same reasons you like being around the rest of us?”

Parker hesitated again. “No. Not really. No. It’s different.”

“How is it different?” Sophie asked, in the tone that said she was going extra slow, so she didn’t scare Parker away.

“Because… because Hardison doesn’t give me anything? And I want to spend time with him anyway?”

“So you enjoy his company, just for himself,” Sophie said.

“Um… yes.”

“Do you consider him a friend?”

“He said we were. Friends and team mates.”

“What does that mean to you? Friendship.”

“I… I… we talk? And watch movies? And do things that aren’t work things, because we can, and they’re fun?”

“Are you friends with anyone else?”

“Eliot. Peggy. Kind of.”

“Okay…” Sophie said slowly. “Is your friendship with Hardison the same or different than with Eliot and Peggy?”

“They’re all different.” Eliot was Eliot. Peggy was Alice’s friend.

“Hmmm…” the grifter hummed. “Do you find Hardison _attractive_ , in a way your other friends aren’t?”

“What do you mean?”

“ _You_ know, Parker.”

“Um… no?”

“Do you want to touch him? Hold hands? Kiss him? Maybe have sex with him one day?”

“Is that important?”

“It could be, yes.” Sarcasm.

“Um… maybe?” Sophie made a hand gesture that said _keep talking_. “I don’t _not_ want to touch him. If he wanted to have sex with me, I would.” Sophie made a funny face at that, but she didn’t say what she was thinking, even when Parker paused, so she went on: “But I would have sex with Eliot, too. If he asked.”

Sophie looked surprised. “What do you look for in a partner?” she asked.

That seemed like a rather abrupt change of topic. “Like… for a job?”

“No, Parker. Like a boyfriend.”

“Oh. Um… I don’t think I’ve ever had one.”

“Are… have you ever slept with someone?”

She shook her head fiercely. “I don’t sleep _with_ anyone.” She would, occasionally, sleep _near_ someone, if they happened to be nearby when she wanted a nap, and she trusted them not to try to sneak up on her while she was sleeping, but not _with_ them, like in a bed, or anything.

“Have you ever had sex, Parker?” Sophie asked, in an exasperated tone.

“ _Oh_. Yes. Of course. Why?”

“Do the people you’ve had sex with have anything in common?”

She wasn’t counting the ones she’d had sex with when she didn’t want to, she decided. She didn’t like to think about them. She thought about the aerialist called Cherry, and the forager-thief she’d met in Barcelona instead. They had been the most fun. “Um… They wanted to have sex with me? They’re nice to look at naked? Most of them are thieves, but not all… Most of them are men, but not all… um… I think they all spoke English? Oh, wait, except that man in Brazil…”

Sophie thumped the back of her head lightly against the headboard. “Okay, let’s try a different tactic,” she said. “You were jealous of Hardison when he started spending time with Ashley. Would you be jealous if Eliot was to spend time with other women?”

“No.” Parker was quite sure of that.

“Why not?”

“Because Eliot spends time with lots of women. Hardison doesn’t. He only spends time with the team, and his internet friends.”

“So why didn’t you want Hardison to spend time with Ashley?”

“Because he normally spends that time with _me_.” Hadn’t she said that was part of the jealousy thing? “We already covered this.”

“Would you be angry with Hardison if he had sex with someone else, instead of you?”

Parker had to consider this for a moment, but she thought the answer was yes. She nodded slowly. “If he’s having sex with anyone, it should be me. Or Eliot.”

Sophie spluttered slightly at that. “Why Eliot?”

Parker shrugged. She thought it was obvious. “He already spends lots of time with Eliot, too.”

“So you just don’t want to lose his company to any degree, is that it?” Sophie asked.

“I guess so.”

“Because you like spending time around him.”

Parker nodded.

“Even though the only thing you get out of it is spending time together.”

Parker nodded again.

“Do you want to spend _more_ time together than you already do?” There was a teasing lilt to that question.

Parker had to think about it. “Maybe. I guess it depends what we’d be doing. Not if it means I just sit around while he plays games with the internet friends. But yes if we got to do something fun.”

“It sounds like what you want is a relationship.”

“How is that different from friendship?” Parker had to ask.

Sophie had a far-away smile dancing around her lips. “I think all the best relationships are built on friendship. It’s… closer, though. You grow together over time, and then you realize that your partner, your boyfriend, means more to you than anyone else. You realize that their happiness matters to you, maybe more than your own, even, enough that you’d sacrifice a little bit of yours for them, and they’d do the same for you, but it’s not a bad thing, because seeing them happy makes you happy as well, and it’s all worth it. Love. Sorry, I’m rambling.”

Parker was watching the older woman closely. “Do you love Nate? Is he your boyfriend?”

Sophie’s face went very, _very_ red. “No. No, Parker, he’s not.”

“Why not? You know each other better than any of the rest of us, and you spend a lot of time trying to make him happy.”

“There’s a certain lack of reciprocality between us in that regard, I’m afraid,” the grifter said, with a look somewhere between sad and irritated. “But we’re not talking about me, at the moment. The good news is, Hardison wants a relationship with you, too,” she changed the subject back brightly.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, Parker. Very sure.”

“How do you know?”

“Oh, I don’t know... The way he watches you like you’re the most fascinating person in the world? The way he’s always suggesting you do things together, like watch movies or play games? He does, trust me.”

Parker nodded. She did trust Sophie to tell her about normal people things. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t be here. “So what do I do about it?”

Sophie sighed. “Well, this is all very new to you. To both of you, I suspect. I think… you should take it slowly for the moment. Try spending a little more time together. Maybe arrange a few of those fun activities you mentioned, with just the two of you, like a date. I expect he’ll do the same. Try to figure out exactly what it is you like about each other. Eventually you _are_ going to have to talk to each other about how you feel, though, you know.”

The thief frowned. If she understood correctly, it sounded like they could do all of the relationship-things without any talking about it at all. “Why?”

“ _Because_ , Parker, the key to a successful relationship is communication. Understanding. Making sure you’re on the same page.”

Parker took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. Okay. She could do this. “Okay,” she said aloud. “But do you think he understood what I meant when I said _pretzels_?”


End file.
